Tim Kaine Said Bill Clinton Should Have Resigned Over His Sex Scandal

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, the running mate of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, once said that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, should have resigned over his White House sex scandal.

The Daily Beast unearthed the comments from Kaine in newspaper interviews about a state-level sex scandal that rocked Virginia in 2002.

At the time, Kaine was the state’s lieutenant governor.

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The scandal involved the state’s Republican House speaker, Vance Wilkins, who paid $100,000 in hush money to a former female employee at his construction company to hide sexual assault allegations.

The Washington Post broke the news of the Wilkins scandal in June 2002. Later, many of the state’s top politicians, including Kaine, called on Wilkins to resign.

Kaine further characterized his sentiment in an interview with the Post:

“Lt. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), who may face [state Attorney General Jerry] Kilgore in the 2005 governor’s race, likened the matter to the sexual scandal of President Bill Clinton and White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky, saying, “If the allegations are true, he ought to resign.”

“Somebody in public life shouldn’t behave that way toward women,” Kaine said. “It’s tawdry. It’s not the leadership that Virginia should have.”

And in an interview with the Associated Press, Kaine said that his feelings toward the 2002 scandal were the same as they were toward the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, the Beast reported:

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“When I read it this morning, my reaction was the same I had when I read about the Clinton-Lewinsky affair: this is not appropriate conduct. It’s beneath the dignity of the office,” he said.

However, a spokeswoman for Kaine sought to distance the candidate from his 14-year-old comments.

Amy Dudley told the Beast that, at the time, Kaine believed a resignation was appropriate, but he disagreed with the Clinton impeachment proceedings.

“As the Associated Press reported at the time, Kaine characterized President Clinton’s actions as ‘not appropriate’ conduct, but he had previously been on record criticizing the impeachment effort,” she said.

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Dudley added, “He believes this election is about Hillary Clinton’s vision … not re-litigating personal issues from the distant past.”